It's still in the middle of an ongoing project at the moment, so there's not much to release in terms of additional stuff just yet. Furthermore, the car's already had other mods on it, so it'll be tough to gauge gains of just the stacks and alpha-n tune themselves. But there's always other S85s out there

That being said, though, it's a level of sound that we feel is even better than the E9x and E46 stack kits we've made thus far. It's absolutely insane when you're right next to them. I'm trying to tweak the settings on my video camera to produce the most accurate results, but all the bass has a hard time registering with the microphone I'm using (Rode VideoMic). We'll see how it all comes together, and I'll definitely drop updates in this thread.

I'm really excited to get more video. It's one of my favorite things to do here.

We're actually in talks with a filter manufacturer at this point regarding an inline filtration solution to help reduce the amount of particulate that can cause potential issues. However, at this moment, they're open straight through to the throttle bodies (which are the Dinan Hi-Flow TBs, if you're interested in knowing). We also have to ensure that the filtration solution isn't going to cause issues as they relate to power, airflow and sound, as the latter is half the reason we started creating these systems in the first place. It's an ongoing process.

There are no universal external filtration solutions on the market that really meet our standards in terms of visual aesthetics. In order to keep these things the centerpiece of the engine bay, they can't be encumbered by some gaudy, clip-on sock, so we're trying to devise a solution for those potential customers that prefer to err on the side of caution.

From our own experiences, driving two open-stack cars (S65 + S54) from Chicago to Vegas and back yielded no issues whatsoever. We also bump up our oil change intervals to 1500-2500 miles a piece to remove any particulate that isn't consumed by combustion as an added measure when running open stacks. Two sets of S54 stacks (one in Texas, one in the south of Great Britain) also run open and have reported back to us that they have yet to experience any issues with them, as well. Obviously we didn't sell those sets to customers that didn't know full well the ramifications of such an issue arising; we discussed every potential upside and downside with them prior to purchase, and they were totally fine.

What about before/after dyno?

All in due time. The Alpha-N tune is being refined still, so there's not an official "after" yet, and I'd have to check to see if I was present on the day when it came in. Worse comes to worse, we have dyno graphs but no video. About half the staff comes in on Saturday, and I'm not part of that group.

Last edited by FluidMotorUnion; 09-27-2012 at 02:00 PM.
Reason: i love editing

This is definitely some serious eye candy under the hood. This setup has been done by Fluid Motor Union on the M3's S65 V8 with water-methanol injection but this would be a first seeing it on the S85 V10. It is jaw dropping beautiful and the sound is simply orgasmic (watch the video below). These velocity stacks will require a custom Alpha-N due to the deletion of the air flow meters which means your tuner definitely better know what he is doing.

The setup sounds great and looks good but the question of debris entering the motor comes up. FMU believes this is not a problem and more frequent oil change intervals are necessitated but other than that nobody running the velocity stacks has had any problems. They are exploring a filter solution although they do not want to hurt the aesthetic appeal which certainly is understandable considering just how good looking these are.

The question really is what if any are the power gains? No dynographs have been posted making us all wonder if this is solely for looks or also for performance. Until independent dyno graphs are posted showing gains skepticism will remain but nobody will doubt the aesthetic or aural appeal. Beautiful work as always.

Definitely looks amazing. Filtering this with something and still make it look like this will amaze me. I wonder what gains come with this.

All our other stack setups (S54 + S65) have produced gains between 20 and 40 whp in conjunction with our in-house Alpha-N tune. We're expecting similar results, but I won't commit to a number as we're still in the midst of it. Fingers are crossed (when they're not busy working, that is).

Also, thanks for taking it to the front page, Sticky! I'll be keeping an eye on the thread throughout the day to help answer any questions that may pop up!

Last edited by FluidMotorUnion; 09-28-2012 at 09:19 AM.
Reason: edited to remove brevity

thats pretty damn sexy, and im loving the sound..definetly interested in the power gains..I could see myslef doing this if the numbers are there..this plus full exhaust with straight pipes on the S85 would just sound so, so sick

That it would! Injection would be the main point of concern; if you've seen, we've done external rails for both nitrous and meth on previous setups (1 meth setup on our S65, 1 nitrous setup on our S54) so it's not out of the equation. It just depends how willing a specific owner is to pay for the manufacture of such a system; if it's out there to be built, we'll build it, so that's the easy part

Originally Posted by Sticky

That's awesome! Hope to see some graphs soon as I am may be mistaken here but haven't seen one posted yet.

Correct, no graphs yet, but once we've hammered out all the details we'll provide a before and after for sure. We've got a couple projects taking place simultaneously, but we're working our asses off, so it'll make its way through the pipeline soon enough.

Correct, no graphs yet, but once we've hammered out all the details we'll provide a before and after for sure. We've got a couple projects taking place simultaneously, but we're working our asses off, so it'll make its way through the pipeline soon enough.

I know, you guys have a ton of work and that's awesome.

With the Alpha-N tune any concerns about owners who go into elevation?

this guy lost $3k dollars in a street race vs a local white six speed M6 LOL... Now what sucks is he wont be able to get another spanking when his car is done!!! The S4 will have to teach this guy a lesson. Has he gotten his car back yet?

this guy lost $3k dollars in a street race vs a local white six speed M6 LOL... Now what sucks is he wont be able to get another spanking when his car is done!!! The S4 will have to teach this guy a lesson. Has he gotten his car back yet?

You clamped 8 horns to an ITB vehicle. This appears to be something any competent fab shop could do. Are they larger TB's maybe for some performance gains to offset the damage of unfiltered particles that are entering the combustion chambers. Are you saying that any gains are due to the horns not the tuning alone ?

With the Alpha-N tune any concerns about owners who go into elevation?

Thanks for bearing with us in my absence. Haven't had a lot of time to even read the forums lately; a couple customers are big fans of my pictures and so they've requested a bit more intense of coverage for them personally. As the man with the camera, that means I'm not at the computer most of the day at the moment.

I'm still looking into the elevation question for you; I'm not a tuner personally, so I don't know the answer off the top of my head.

Originally Posted by fast4door

question..are you guys saying your other cars made 20-40 whp after those cars were already tuned or tune + throttle bodies?

Originally Posted by Sticky

Tune with the velocity stacks from stock car.

Sticky's correct here. On average, we experience gains averaging 20-40 whp with both our stacks and tune. Every motor (US S50 w/ S54 ITB retrofit, S54, S65, S85) responds differently to both the stacks and tune, so there's a bit of variation there.

Originally Posted by 600whp S4

this guy lost $3k dollars in a street race vs a local white six speed M6 LOL... Now what sucks is he wont be able to get another spanking when his car is done!!! The S4 will have to teach this guy a lesson. Has he gotten his car back yet?

The E64 M6 convertible isn't necessarily the best platform on which to create a drag car, but that said, there's good power to be made in that motor and it can definitely be a contender without having to resort to a 200 shot of nitrous or something similarly heavy-handed. Plus the sound, my god.

The E64 is actually the heaviest vehicle to contain the S85, based on rough curb weight values, giving it the lowest power/weight ratio of the lineup when it comes to drag racing:

E60 sedan: 4090 lbs
E63 coupe: 3770 lbs
E64 cabrio: 4420 lbs

So starting with this platform is a real uphill battle when it comes down to it.

Originally Posted by J.J.

You clamped 8 horns to an ITB vehicle. This appears to be something any competent fab shop could do. Are they larger TB's maybe for some performance gains to offset the damage of unfiltered particles that are entering the combustion chambers. Are you saying that any gains are due to the horns not the tuning alone ?

Actually, with the S85, it was ten horns, not eight. But I appreciate the compliment on our competency!

The TBs are Dinan's upgrade, which is essentially a bored-out version of the OEM ITBs. That's what the car came in with, underneath the stock plenum and Dinan air boxes.

A while back, we set out to make a video that shows that merely unplugging the stock airbox and running the velocity stacks in its place would produce power, independent of changes to the ECU's programming. That video was shot in a single take, synced up to the dyno computer's graphs. I'll just copy and paste this chunk of text from the video's description:

For the sake of consistency in testing, we did this entire run with the MAF sensors unplugged, allowing the vehicle to throw a CEL and enter its alpha-n programming. We did later runs with the MAFs plugged in during the initial runs, and found no difference in average gains. Once again, it wasn't filmed all in one shot, so it wasn't included.

And here's the video itself:

www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v=3neHy4kZjDg

(That's silly that I had to post it like that, but hey, rules against posting links are rules)

Yes, it was an S62 and not an S85. We've since done this with other motors we've installed stacks on, and the results are consistent, we just haven't had the time to film, edit and publish it all. But it still shows that, independent of an ECU tune, the stacks alone will increase power. Now it doesn't bump power everywhere by itself, that's what the tune is for, and we wouldn't sell the stacks without the corresponding alpha-n tune for that exact reason.

I would be really intereseted to see what kind of gains the stacks are getting without the tune..I know this isnt accurate math, but most companies are advertising 30-40whp from the tune alone..Ill be looking forwatd to more info on this